Differential Reactions of Urban and Rural Teachers to Blended Learning: Evidence From Chinese Secondary Schools

Introduction

Information and communications technology (ICT) is progressively being integrated into every aspect of education and teaching, supporting innovation in secondary school teaching and learning, and driving ongoing changes in school curricula. Furthermore, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, new educational approaches have been introduced worldwide (Dhawan, 2020). In China, many secondary schools have adopted blended learning (BL) as a teaching model combining classroom teaching and online learning. Secondary schools expect that BL will become the norm in future secondary education reform, as it will change the existing teaching model and resolve the problem of limited personalized learning for students (Cheng & Wu, 2020). BL has demonstrated its significant advantages in improving learners' performance, including enhancing interest and satisfaction in learning, optimizing learning outcomes, developing self-directed learning skills, and improving attitudes toward learning (Larmuseau et al., 2018; Serrano et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2022; Zhao et al., 2020). As an innovative model that can re-integrate learning time, BL will drive the future of education in China (R.H. Huang et al., 2022). However, there are few case studies on the effectiveness of BL practices in Chinese secondary schools (Fu et al., 2021). While teachers' focus on BL is still on the technical level, the significant challenges faced in the practice process must be addressed. Specifically, as implementers of pedagogical theory applications and direct leaders of teaching practice activities, teachers must still summarize and analyze their experiences in BL practices well. It has led to few studies analyzing the problems in BL practices from the teachers' perspectives (Bowyer & Chambers, 2017; Mozelius & Rydel, 2017). Therefore, this study aims to identify the challenges and influential factors in implementing BL in Guangdong, China, from the perspective of secondary school teachers and to understand the perceptions of urban and rural teachers about these dilemmas. For this purpose, this study is the first to compare the BL experiences of rural and urban Chinese secondary school teachers based on their reflections. Therefore, it gives rise to the research question: What are the differential reactions of urban and rural teachers in secondary schools to their experiences of BL implementation? Data were collected primarily through qualitative research. In addition, the descriptive analysis of the survey questions was conducted from the secondary school teachers' perspectives. By identifying the challenges and factors affecting BL implementation in China, this study can serve as a reference for the government, schools, and teachers in their efforts to improve the learning experience and help the teachers adapt to new models of teaching innovation.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the relevant literature on BL and explores the challenges encountered in its implementation. Section 3 describes the methodology used in this study. Section 4 presents the results, while Section 5 discusses them. Finally, Section 6 summarizes the findings, identifies the study's limitations, and offers recommendations for future research.